Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
HIDING IN THE SHADOWS
By the time I make it to the quad, even with my ‘chill the fuck out’ playlist blasting in my ears, my head’s all over the place. The last thing I want is to study, but I told Callan I’d be at the library and I don’t go back on my word.
As I shuffle along the path, “Common People” by Pulp has me rocking my head to the beat. That’s when a hand yanks me toward the side of the building.
Shrieking in surprise, I prepare myself to use my bag as a boulder as we veer past the fountain that coats me in a fine mist, earning a shudder because damn, it’s a cold one today.
Then, I see it’s Alec and not Dyers so I take a deep breath, tug out my earphones, dump them in a pocket, then yell, “What the hell do you think you’re doing, you moron?!”
“Be quiet. I have to talk to you.”
“Unfortunately for you, I don’t have to do a damn thing.”
“I just need a minute.”
His wheedling has no effect on me. “I don’t have thirty seconds. Not for jackasses like you.”
I wrestle with his grip, but he tightens it so I snag his thumb like my dad taught me and drag it backward.
His yelp is a delight to all five of my senses, but with my mood rapidly curdling, I demand, “What do you want, Alec?”
He cups his hand, shielding his boo-boo from me. “How am I supposed to play if you break my thumb? No wonder Zach’s doing a great impression of a pitbull—”
“You never grab a woman that way, not without expecting repercussions. But I guess being friends with turds like Dyers, you haven’t picked up on that yet.”
“Dyers’s family’s quick to litigate. I’d watch what I say about him if I were you.”
He swipes his hand through the air as if drawing a line on that conversation. Such a jerk. Makes me wish I had busted his goddamn thumb.
“Look, you need to talk to your dad about this situation.”
I tap my toe. “About what?”
“Just bring up Dyers and me to him. I know you won’t let this drop, but he can explain why you need to.”
There’s an earnestness about his expression that tells me he thinks my dad will fix things.
What those things might be, I’m not sure.
Hell, Oakwood is his alma mater but—
“What did he offer you?”
Alec frowns. “What are you talking about?”
“He’s obsessed with Zach taking it all the way to the NHL. Always has been.” He and Zach’s dad have been in cahoots over it for years. “What did he offer you to make sure that happens? It’s why you’ve been so hard on him, right? I should have figured it out sooner but—”
“What were you thinking, Alec?! Are you okay?”
The demand comes from out of the blue. Enough that I jump in surprise when someone else grabs my arm and wrests me away from Alec.
Half-turning, I find Victoria and Shay hovering behind me. They’re both pink-cheeked and panting as if they raced over as soon as they saw Alec dragging me aside.
I study them warily because their worry for me is so strong that I take Alec in with fresh eyes. I’ve always thought he had the presence of a slice of French toast before it hit the pan, but their expressions have me burrowing beneath the surface.
Not that there’s much to see.
His expression’s placid. None of the urgency from before there.
That he switched it off so swiftly has me stepping back a pace and mumbling, “Thanks for checking in with me but I’m fine.”
“Shay, she’s scared. Do something.” To me, Victoria assures, “You’re fine now, Denver.”
I didn’t feel unfine before, so her reassurance puts me on edge.
Shay’s not as bulky as Alec, but there’s something about how he moves, a lightness on the balls of his feet, that tells me he channels Finn Bálor in his spare time.
“Just butt out.” Alec’s temper filters through the command. “This has nothing to do with you, O’Donnelly!”
“It’s okay, Victoria, Denver. I’ll deal with this.”
Wide-eyed when Shay rolls up his sleeves, I lift my hand. “Honestly, it’s fine—”
“It isn’t,” he disagrees, tone doused with hellfire even as the look he lands on me is kind. “If you want to go, you can.”
My focus shifts between them, but it’s Victoria’s gentle nod that encourages me to take off.
I shoot her a grateful smile and rush back onto the quad.
Any desire to study in the library has faded though. I hover. Waiting to hear what’ll happen. But if they’re fighting or arguing, I can’t make it out.
The swiftness of what just happened, combined with the morning’s events, Alec’s persistent defense of Dyers… and now him involving my dad? Then there’s the threat that Shay and Victoria perceived in Alec…
Is it any wonder that I’m shaking by the time I make it to the nearest bench?
I should go farther, but my knees are trembling.
My throat bobs and I do the smart thing—grab my cell and call my mom.
When she picks up, there’s laughter in her voice. “Darling!”
The last time we talked, she’d gotten over the upset that was invite-only night, but she’d been deep in daydreams about this lawyer dude she was dating so it was a relatively quick call.
I might agree that my dad’s a jackass, but that doesn’t mean I want to hear her weigh up the pros and cons of his replacement.
“M-Mom?”
“What is it?” The switch in tone has me sagging against the bench.
There she is.
That’s what I needed—my momma bear.
“Nothing, Mom. I just… I guess I wanted to hear your voice.”
“Denver, what’s going on?” If anything, she sounds sterner. “You wouldn’t call me at this time of the day for no reason. I was hoping you had some news for me—”
I don’t even have it in me to question if Pecan’s already texted his mom, which has made its way to mine.
I explain what just happened. Word for word. I even share what went down in the diner.
She doesn’t interrupt once.
By the end of the call, I mutter, “You still there?”
“I’ll deal with your father.”
“You will?”
“Yes. There’s no need to worry. I love you, baby.”
I can hear the farewell in her voice so, quickly, I blurt out, “There’s something else I need to tell you.”
“What is it?”
This time, she sounds brisk because I know I’m distracting her.
“I-I just wanted you to hear it from me. Zach and I… we’re dating.”
I never know what to expect from Mom. She’s a wild card. The joker in the pack. Capable of conforming to what society expects of her yet always with a twist of her own.
So, when she bursts into tears, noisy ones, I swallow. “Are those good tears or bad?”
It takes what feels like ten minutes for her to stop sobbing.
For me to realize she’s been hoping for this day since we were kids.
For me to realize how weird my mom is… but that I love her anyway.
“Mom?”
“Jo would be so happy. We used to watch you two together—”
“That isn’t creepy,” I complain.
“Oh, hush. You’ll understand when you have kids of your own.
You two are perfect for each other, but I thought you were either going to come out to me as gay or a nun and Zach was happier using his little brain to do the thinking for him.
” She blows her nose in my ear. “I want to know every single damn detail, do you hear me?”
“Now?” I whine.
“No. I have to speak with that idiot sperm donor of yours. But when you’re back home, I demand girl talk.”
“Only if we can grab fried chicken and ice cream first,” I wheedle.
“Absolutely.” That she doesn’t complain about the calories tells me she’s serious.
Or that the lawyer guy isn’t as obsessed with her weight as Dad was.
If so, I already like him.
“Hell, if it takes those godawful chili fries and Klondike bars to get the truth out of you, I’ll do it. Every detail, Denver Parilla. You hear me?”
I grin at my shoes. “You drive a hard bargain.”
“You bet I do. God, I wish Jo were here. We’d all get together and discuss this. It would be so fun watching you both squirm.” She sniffles. “Life sucks.”
“I didn’t even know you two were that close,” I admit guiltily.
“We didn’t have much in common aside from you kids. Helmie and I are more in sync. But that doesn’t mean Jo didn’t fit in in her own way.”
“Mom?”
“Yes, baby.”
“Zach’s suffering.”
“I heard from Helmie that his temper’s running away from him. He always did get angry when there were circumstances out of his control. You burrow away with ten books, Pecan disappears to the rink, and Zach…” She sighs. “…earns eight detentions for fighting.”
“What do I do to help him?”
“You just be there for him and hope he doesn’t get expelled in the process.”
“Mom!”
“I’m joking!”
“You weren’t.”
“Your dad wouldn’t let him get expelled.”
Her offhand comment has me digging my heels into the sodden ground. As dirt kicks up about my ankles, I mumble, “Why is he so invested in Zach’s future?”
“All agents have prospects, you know that. Plus, Zach’s a part of the family.”
“Nothing else?”
“Maybe. Hockey’s your dad’s love. The rest of the sports are cash cows, but the ice is where his heart is. Fitting, really,” she tacks on, bone-deep bitterness souring her tone.
“Why did Alec think Dad could fix anything related to team politics?”
Her silence is answer enough.
“Why, Mom?”
“It’s related to something dumb he did years back when he was attending Oakwood. But it’s fine. I’ll make sure of it.”
That momma-bear growl is back.
“Thank you, Mom.”
“I’d say you don’t have to thank me, baby, but you do. Details. Remember? And no worming your way out of it. I want to know how he finally confronted his feelings for you.”
“You’re making it sound like an episode of Days of our Lives!” I wail.
“This is better.” She hoots. “Damn, I can’t wait for Christmas. You’re still coming down, right?”
“Yep. Sure am.”
“Good.”
“You’re going to be okay on your own at Thanksgiving, Mom, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. I have plenty to keep me busy.”
“Do I want to know?”
“Probably not,” she says with a full-bodied laugh that makes me scrunch up my nose. “Now, leave this with me.”
“Will do, Mom.”
“Oh, and Denny?”
“Yeah?”
“That Dyers sounds like a nasty piece of work. I understand that it’s in your nature to get into people’s faces, but this boy… if what you tell me’s true, then he’s not your run-of-the-mill student. He’s a predator. Stay with Zach or Pecan or this Callan boy you told me about—”
“Mom, he isn’t going to hurt me,” I say dryly. “I’m not exactly his type.”
“Domination has nothing to do with attraction. Neither does revenge. Please, do as I say, baby. The last thing I want is for you to be a statistic too.”
The nerves she dispelled return to the fore. “Why would the school let him back in, Mom? If he sexually assaulted someone?”
“You know why as well as I do. Power and money talk in this world.” She harrumphs. “I could drag you out of there, but what would be the use? Where there’s a dick, there’s danger!”
“Well, that’s cheerful.”
“If I haven’t given you enough horror stories, I can always tell you about what happened to—”
“It’s fine.”
“Want to transfer to an all-women’s college?”
“No!”
“Your father was pushing for you to pledge, but it’s why I wanted you to join Pi Beta Epsilon. There’s safety among your sisters.” She tuts. “You don’t have much faith in men and I can’t blame you, honey.”
“Or relationships.” And I’m back to digging my heels in the soil.
“I’m sorry if I contributed to that, Denny. I-I know you know how things ended between me and Rod. It was wrong and I regret how you kids became entangled in the divorce.”
The silence that lingers between us isn’t from anger on my part, just discomfort.
That she stays on the line tells me she’s worried I’m judging her so I share, “I told Zach that I won’t talk to him ever again if he cheats on me.”
“Good. He should know your boundaries.”
“I won’t let some man make a fool out of me with puck bunnies.”
“Even better,” she cheers, her voice hopeful. “The second your father cheated, I should have dumped his ass, but it’s hard when you have kids and you’re trained in a vanity career that you’re not even interested in.” She pauses a second. “Want to know a secret?”
“Sure.”
“That first time, I collated evidence. I know, from the outside looking in, you might have thought I just let him get away with murder, and then I was as bad as him when I committed adultery too. But that wasn’t the case—”
“Mom, you don’t have to—”
“No, Denver. Listen to me. It’s important to me now that you’re interested in relationships that you know what’s what.
“I documented every damn thing he did, not just all the women but things I overheard, business or otherwise, and I gave it to my lawyer. I wasn’t afraid to blackmail his ass.”
“Mom!” I chortle.
“What?” I just know she’s preening. “He deserved it. Jackass. Now, I have to go. Be safe, baby. That’s more important to me than grades in your finals. Love you.”
Touched, I whisper, “I love you too.”
When she cuts the call, I bite my lip. Then my cell buzzes.
Callan: Denny, you okay? We still on?
I hesitate over how to answer, but then I realize if I don’t tell him the truth, he’ll just think I’m unreliable.
Me: Alec, the captain of the hockey team, kind of accosted me
Callan: WHAT?! Where are you? Are you safe?
Me: I’m in the quad. I’m fine. Honestly. It just freaked me out. He didn’t even do anything, but I wanted to talk to my mom
Callan: That asshole! I’m leaving the library now
Me: You don’t have to do that!
Callan: Of course I do! Send me your location
And even though I’m chiding myself for being dumb, Zach and now Mom’s warnings weigh heavily on me.
So I hit send.
I’m pretty sure it’s an overreaction and that I’m being overly sensitive, but I feel only relief when I see Callan scurrying out of the building a few minutes later…